Newspaper article about Reginald Harding-Klimanek ('Reggie') by Dom Wulstan Phillipson,O.S.B., in the Irish Independent, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin, 2 September 1968.
Reginald Harding-Klimanek was the son of Charles Gesner van der Voort's (1916-1991) senior colleague Philip Harding-Klimanek, when he was working in Shanghai in 1939. Reggie was born and grew up in Shanghai. Part of his education was at Downside School in Radstock, Somerset, United Kingdom. Before WWII, he moved from Shanghai to the UK with his mother Zoia and sister Sylvia, when the Japanese invaded China. His father remained in Shanghai and was captured by the Japanese in Hong Kong, when he was there to work as a volunteer in a food conservation program.
In the UK, Reggie became an RAF flight sergeant and was active in WWII. During a mission in Norway, he was shot down near Arendal. A few days before his death, he wrote a letter to his parents and sister, which can be read in the newspaper article.
In 1968, his mother and former teacher Dom Wulstan Phillipson O.S.B. visited his grave in Arendal, Norway.
A memorial showing his name can be found here:
<a href="https://old.gwulo.com/%3Ca%20href%3D"https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18966823/reginald-sergius_paul_harding-klimanek">https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18966823/reginald-sergius_paul_hardi..." rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.findagrave.com/memorial/18966823/reginald-sergius_pau...</a>
Courtesy Harding-Klimanek family archives
